In The Pool
by luckless-is-me
Summary: Sora Strife was in love with his longtime best friend, Riku Ishida. There were only two major problems getting in his way: 1 Riku was a complete lady's man, and 2 Sora couldn't handle water since the accident. Request fic for F-cktheWorld. RikuxSora


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Lame title is lame.

Okay, first off, let me explain this...thing, I suppose is what it should probably be called. I wrote it as a request fic for F-cktheWorld, because she won one from me because of my story 'Someday' with the Dexion pairing (I wish I could have added them into this story a bit more...T.T). For those of you who don't know, that story was finished _months _ago. And, well, I promised that this fic done sometime after June...and it _is _after June, but it really shouldn't have taken me this long to finish. But, regrettably, I didn't actually have any _idea _where to go with it. There were just too many options for it. Which brings me back to this 'thing'.

I was thinking about what I was going to do for this fic and then I saw 'Maneaters: Alligators and Crocidiles' on AnimalPlanet while I was at work (don't ask), and boom! This happened. What this has to do with 'Maneaters' I'm not entirely sure but, eh~ enjoy it anyway. I'll explain a bit more about this story at the bottom so I'm not ruining everything.

Also, I've never written anything for this pairing (even though they really were what originally got me into fanfiction) and I really do love them, so I apologize if my characterization of them seems a bit off. I don't really read anything for them anymore either. ^^'

Rating: M for a rushed sexual situation that I feel will come back to haunt me in my nightmares. I'm seriously not kidding.

Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts...let's not go there; it may be hazardous to our health.

So, without further blubbering on my part, enjoy!

* * *

It was absolutely terrifying. And he was only watching them. Watching them laugh and suit up before diving and zooming across like little blurs. He had to hold his breath for each and every one of them, even those he didn't even know. They would group up and dive and then…what if they didn't come back up? What if they couldn't breathe down there? What if no one noticed them? What if everyone just watched them dro—

"Dude, you okay?" Ocean blue eyes blinked as little brown hairs on his neck stood on edge. Slowly, he nodded, never once taking his eyes away from those blurs beneath the water. "I'm serious, man. You look like you're going to be sick." Sora sighed as his overly concerned redheaded friend grabbed his shoulder and made him turn towards him. Of course he wasn't okay. Of course he looked sick. Of course; didn't he always? He couldn't let Axel know though. _No one _was allowed to know.

"I'm fine, Axel. Really." Sora smiled, and though it was fake, it looked real enough to anyone, even to one of his closest friends. "I was just thinking is all. You worry too much."

Axel shrugged, those too-green eyes of his looking him over suspiciously before turning back towards the school's in-ground pool. Inwardly, Sora sighed. Thank god. In reality, Axel had every right to be worried about him; it was no secret to him—or anyone else for that matter—that Sora had a bit of a problem with water. But, Sora had to be here. He just _had _to. Two of his best friends were on the swim team. Demyx Nocturne was the captain and in the same grade as Axel. He'd been friends with the admittedly strange blond since middle school. Wasn't he supposed to support him? And then there was the co-captain: Riku Ishida, his best friend since birth and longtime crush. Not that Riku was ever allowed to know about his feels, though. He was a full-on lady's man and who was he to come between him and his latest fling? But, hey, they were still best friends and he felt _obligated _to be here for him. Even if he _did _hate the water. Even if he _did _hate watching.

"Hey, Demyx and Riku are coming up." Axel mumbled, sort of uncaringly. It was no secret that he hated these things too; pyromaniacs and water seldom ever mix well. That's why he always agreed to sit with Sora at the very top of the bleachers—far, far away from the water—while Roxas and Zexion sat near the bottom, though that was more Roxas' doing then Zexion's, everyone knew that boy would prefer to be in the library if his boyfriend wouldn't whine to him about not being very supportive.

"Oh, okay." Sora leaned forward in his seat, watching Demyx and his crush getting into position like it was the most natural thing in the world. He held his breath, trapping it in his throat like a lifeline. Any moment now they would be diving down into the water. They'd be down there where they couldn't _breathe_, all for the sake of some school team, for winning some race. What if something happened? What if they went down wrong and hit their head? What then? Would anyone even notice before it was too late? Would they be okay? Wo—

They were off.

They were under the water, every last one of them, zooming by like little blurs. Every last one of them. No one was left at the starting line. No one hit their head. Everyone was okay. For now. It wasn't over yet. They were nearly at the halfway point, Demyx in the lead, turning under the water before coming back the way he came. Riku was next, closely followed by the others. They were halfway back. Had anyone bothered to breathe? Were they all okay under there? Demyx was up and out, filling up his lungs with lifesaving air, brushing his blond hair out of his face and smiling as the rest of the swimmers began to reach the finish line. Riku was the second one up, looking like he'd barely even broke a sweat as he pulled himself up and gave Demyx a high five. One by one, they all came back up, breathing in great lung-fulls of air as they pulled themselves back up the sides of the pool.

Thankfully, Sora took in a breath of his own, his throat quivering as the air filled his own lungs and saved him from suffocating of his own free will. Everyone came back up. No one drowned. They were all okay. They could all breathe again. Okay, okay…they were all perfectly okay.

"You positive you okay over there, Sora?" Sora smiled, a real smile this time, nodding his head so that his chocolate brown spikes bounced.

"Yeah. I'm okay." And he meant it.

**In The Pool **

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Sora waved from his front porch as Demyx's broken down blue pickup truck slide backwards out of the driveway, it's remaining occupants—said owner of the truck, his boyfriend, Axel, and Riku—all squished up against each other as they attempted to wave back.

"I think we all need to invest in a bigger truck." Roxas, Sora's twin brother, mumbled from off to his right, massaging his shoulder. Roxas was a lot like Sora in looks, his eyes just as blue and his hair just as gravity defying, but the two of them were complete opposites in personality. While Sora was typically a lot nicer and content with just going with the flow most of the time, Roxas was assertive and, well, if he didn't like something, the whole world knew it within minutes. He was just that kind of person, really. And he hated Demyx's truck. With a passion. The blond, older sibling was always stuck either with a lap full of Sora or sitting in the lap of Axel, his boyfriend who he could barely stand on most occasions—or so it seemed anyway.

Sora just rolled his eyes, leaning back against the house as he waited for Roxas to fish out his house key and open it up. It was their routine. Sora always brought in the school bags while Roxas opened the door, since Sora never seemed to have his key—he was far too forgetful to ever remember where he put the darn thing. But, today was different. Roxas wasn't handing over his bag or searching his pockets for the house key. Instead, he was watching his brother with identical blue orbs, a scowl turning down his lips. The brunette couldn't help but cock his head a bit to the side in confusion; he hadn't done anything to make Roxas mad. Not today at least. He'd used the rest of the milk in his cereal, but Roxas hadn't really seemed to care, and he stole his eraser during art, but that wasn't really a new occurrence. He stole the thing nearly every day and Roxas never seemed to care. They were brothers, and since Sora was the younger sibling, he had the right to steal the blond's things every once in a while. Plus, he always returned them, so it didn't really make sense for Roxas to be angry with him about something as trivial as that. And Roxas wouldn't have held it in all day either. He was the type of guy that didn't let things 'shimmer', so to speak. He always let you know what was on his mind when it was on his mind.

Suddenly, Roxas let out a long sigh, shaking his head ever so slightly before looking away. "Sora, you really have got to get ahold of yourself." He said at length, dropping his shoulder bag to the porches unforgiving wood, not even bothering with it.

Sora's eyes scrunched together in just the slightest way, his brows furrowing. "Huh?" He asked intelligently, causing Roxas to shake his head and roll his eyes. Even Sora could see his impatience, though the other was facing away from him.

"I saw you at the swim meet, Sora." The blond turned his gaze to him, one eyebrow raised; Sora winced. "I know that you're in love with Riku, but this has got to stop. Just let it go. Every time you go to one of those meets, you end up hurting yourself. Just stop going. Please, Sor? Just stop going."

"I can't." He whispered, crossing his arms around his middle, like he was trying to keep himself in place. Roxas knew about Sora's infatuation with Riku; he'd always known, ever since they were kids and Sora first realized that he had 'feelings' for the slightly older male. The two of them told each other everything. What else were brothers for anyway? But, that being said, he'd been there for the accident as well. He knew what water did to Sora. And he knew just how much it hurt him to watch the swim meets.

"Of course you can. Riku will understand if you stop going to the meets, you know. He saw what happened too. I'm sure he wouldn't blame you for not going." Roxas took a step closer, cerulean blue eyes wide and sincere. He really meant what he said. He wanted Sora to do what he was comfortable with and to be happy. And, well, water in general did not make him happy; those meets were just torture for him. But Sora knew he couldn't stop going. He _had _to be there. He had to go to each and every single one. He couldn't just _not _go, no matter how much Roxas wanted him to.

"I know he wouldn't blame me." Sora mumbled, pushing his bag a little farther up so it rested comfortably on his shoulder. "But—"

"Then stop going! Since you know he won't care, then just _stop going_."

"I _can't _and I _won't_, Roxas." The blond huffed and it took all Sora could do to not just curl up in a ball and cry. It's what he really wanted to do, but…he couldn't. Not here. Not in front of Roxas, who already thought he was falling apart. He couldn't let him know that the accident had really hurt him this much on the inside. He could never let him know just how much the water scared him. He could _never _let him know. "I have to be there. For him and for Demyx and…for me too. Okay?"

Roxas sighed, pulling the key out of his pocket and sliding it into the lock. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, you win. Go to the stupid meets." He mumbled, walking past Sora to get inside, not even bothering with his bag. "Just don't forget that I told you so."

And then the door clicked shut, leaving Sora to stand on the porch, his arms still wrapped around his middle. Roxas was just looking out for him. He knew that; he had always known that. Roxas was his older brother. Roxas had _always _looked out for him. He'd always gone behind him and cleaned up all of his messes, even when they were kids. But, even he knew that Roxas couldn't fix this for him. He would have to do it himself, no matter how much it hurt him.

Sighing, Sora turned his blue eyes up to the darkening sky, storm clouds building and overshadowing the house.

It looked like it was going to rain.

**In The Pool**

Sora closed his eyes, rocking back and forth for just a moment to reassure himself before dropping his stuff by the edge of the bleachers. Before him was the school's swimming pool, perfectly still and waiting for him. The water was crystal clear, smooth except for the buoys lining the deeper end, set in place specifically for the swim team. That was fine, though. He wasn't worried about the deep end today. No, all he was here for was the shallow end. All he wanted to do was slip in and slip out. He didn't even have to be in for very long, just long enough to get his head under the water. That's all.

If only it was that easy.

Letting out the air that he hadn't even noticed he was holding in, Sora began to toe of his sneakers, followed by his socks, careful to keep his back to the pool—he knew what he was doing, but that didn't mean that he had to psych himself out by watching the water. Next, he slipped his shirt over his head, folding it neatly before setting it on the bleachers by his bag. Finally, he shimmied out of his worn blue jeans, leaving him in nothing but a dark blue pair of swim trunks, courtesy of Roxas' closet.

He was really going to do this.

He was really going to get back in the water after the accident, just to prove to himself that everything was okay. That he shouldn't worry so much about Riku and Demyx and the others every time they went into the water. It made sense. What happened to him that one time was just a fluke. Really. He'd been swimming regularly since he was a child, so why? Why did the water frighten him so much, even though he already knew it wouldn't necessarily hurt him? He would be okay. He knew he would.

Now if only he could actually do it…

With his fists clenched tightly at his sides, he took a step closer to the pool, followed by another and another until he was standing above the stairs with his nails digging into his palms. The water certainly didn't look like it was going to kill him. It looked just as placid as it always did. It was perfectly natural. Moving one of his shaking—they were shaking?—hands to the support bar, he took a step forward, stealing himself against the cold so he wouldn't jump away. It felt fine. Of course, it was a little cold, causing goose bumps to travel up his arms and legs, but wasn't water pretty much always cold? Yes. Yes it was. There was nothing for him to be afraid of. Really, there wasn't.

Slowly, he lowered the other foot, taking another step towards the treacherous depths. Nothing happened, not that he had expected anything to. Smiling ever so slightly to himself, he walked down the stairs, one step at a time, never once letting go of the beam with his shaking hands. Soon enough, he was submerged up to his thighs. And he was _okay_. He was perfectly okay. The water didn't suddenly begin to thrash at him. It didn't tug him down by his ankles and trap all the air in his throat. It didn't hurt him at all.

Not that he had really expected it to anyway.

Feeling a little more confident, he peeled his fingers away from the beam and brought them to his chest, letting them rest before leisurely lowering them into the water with his lower body. He held them there for over a minute and just let the cool water lap up around them, cocooning them like small children, before he pulled them up to his chest. They hadn't stopped shaking. If anything, the shaking had only gotten worse the longer he held them in the pool.

It didn't really matter, though. He was still scared; he knew he was, if the way his breathing came in labored pants was any indication of that fact. But, even so, he was happy. He was actually in the pool and nothing had happened to him. Unable to contain himself, he laughed, taking another step forward so that he was immersed up to his naval. He was really here. Reaching one shaking hand—had it gotten even worse?—over, he gripped the edge of the pool, holding on so tightly that his knuckles began to whiten due to the pressure. He took another step forward, this one larger, more confident.

But he'd forgotten.

He'd forgotten that the pool drops off at an incline once you reach a certain point, submerging your whole body under the water.

Before he even knew what was happening, he was under water, completely submerged, and he couldn't _breathe_. In a panic, he inhaled, sucking water in. He knew how to swim. He'd known how to swim since he was a toddler, but _how_? How did he swim? How did he breathe? He didn't remember. He didn't remember how to paddle or which way the surface was. He didn't know how he was supposed to move, how he was supposed to find air. He just _didn't know_.

Abruptly, he felt something grab his arm and haul him up, pulling him over the edge of the pool by his mostly dry hand. Instinctively, Sora coughed, pushing the water out of his lungs so that he could breathe, gasping for air as he curled on his side, not even bothering with the bloody scratch that ran down his side due to one of the pool's loose tiles. He was okay. He could breathe.

His eyebrows furrowed after a moment, hidden beneath his matted down chocolate brown hair. With shaking hands—and arms and legs and everything else—he sat up, his oceanic blue orbs meeting with a pair of pure cerulean. Riku…

"What the hell were you thinking, Sora?" He whispered, concern etched with surprise and worry laced in his tone. Said brunette coughed into his palm, letting his eyes glaze as he looked back over the pool. The water was just as calm as it had been before he came. What had he been thinking? Did he really think that everything would be okay? That he could conquer his fear in just one day?

Maybe he really was nothing but a simpleton.

"I just…wanted to swim." He managed at length, his voice slightly hoarse and shallow. Riku looked at him incredulously, his eyes wide and…angry. So very angry.

"Damn it, Sora!" Furiously, he stood, throwing a towel at the brunette and crossing his arms. "What do you think would have happened if I hadn't forgotten my bag at practice? You could have _drowned_! Why didn't you ask me or Demyx or _anyone _to come with you? You haven't been in the water since the accident! Did you really think you could just get back in and everything would be okay?"

"No!" Sora cut in, clutching the towel like a lifeline. "I was just going to get wet and then get out! I wasn't actually going to swim!" He took a deep breath, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands. He hadn't wanted this. He just wanted to get in and get out. He wasn't supposed to go in so deep. He wasn't supposed to nearly drown _again_.

"Then why the hell didn't you ask anyone to come with you?" Riku asked, his voice quieter but still shaking with anger. He and Sora were best friends…and he nearly lost him again.

"I couldn't." Sora mumbled, looking away, at the water, at the bleachers, anywhere but his eyes. He couldn't stand to see him so angry with him. After the accident, Riku came to see him every day in the hospital. He would sit by his bed and tell him about school, or he'd just hold his hand so he could sleep without the nightmares. Seeing him so angry…made everything seem like it didn't matter. "I had to do this myself."

Riku sighed, rubbing at his temples before taking a seat on one of the nearby bleachers. "That was reckless." He grumbled after a while, his eyes softening in just the slightest way as he watched Sora crawl away from the pool and curl up in the towel, watching the water like it was some kind of traitor. "Sora…why did you really come out here? You must have had some other reason besides swimming."

Sora turned those blue eyes of his towards him, his face void of all real emotion even though his body still shook. What did it matter what his real reason for being there had been? It had ended horribly. He was just as terrified as he'd been since the accident, maybe even more so now, knowing that he panicked so much that he couldn't even remember how to swim. "It doesn't matter." He mumbled, standing and wobbling over to his school bag. He grabbed his shirt and tugged it on, not even caring that his back was still slightly damp, making the material stick unpleasantly to his skin.

"Yes it does." The brunette's crush insisted, standing but not moving any closer. "Come on, Sor, you can tell me."

Sora's eyes darkened as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He hated this. He hated hiding everything. He hated loving someone who could never love him back. Why did it matter if he told him his real reason for being there? They were already beginning to drift apart anyway; he might as well just sever all ties right now. "Do you really want to know why, Riku?" He asked, his voice soft and shaking just like the rest of him.

"Yeah…I want to know."

The brunette shook his head, shuffling his feet along the floor in such a way that they fell back into his shoes. "Because I love you. I'm _in _love _with _you." He explained, taking a deep breath. "And I'm scared. I'm scared of everything that has to do with the water…and you're _always _in it. I'm okay with you not loving me back…I've accepted that you won't. I have. Trust me, I understand that you and I could never be together, because you like girls and, well, I'm not exactly a girl, am I? But…I don't know. You don't know what it's like. I come to the meets to make sure _nothing _happens. Every time you…or-or Demyx or _anyone _go under the water…I can't stand it. What if you didn't come up? What was I going to do then? I don't know, and it's absolutely _terrifying_.

"So, I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I conquered my fear of water even just the slightest bit, that I wouldn't be so afraid anymore. That I wouldn't be so scared that you weren't going to come up. Of course, that ended spectacularly, don't you think? All this and I'm _still_ terrified."

Riku didn't say anything once Sora had finished; he wouldn't even look at him. But Sora hadn't really expected him to anyway. He knew that in telling him he'd ruin everything, but that's what he had wanted. He'd wanted to stop holding everything in all the time. He'd wanted to let someone, _anyone _know just how much he was hurting inside. And, well, who better to tell then the main cause of it all?

With tears building in his oceanic blue eyes, the brunette shook his head and made his way towards the door. He wanted to let him know, and maybe on some subconscious level he'd wanted to destroy their friendship. At least that way he wouldn't hurt so much all the time. Maybe this way he wouldn't have to just keep pretending. But it still hurt. It still hurt to tell Riku that he loved him and not have him say anything back. He hadn't even rejected him! It was just like, to Riku, he hadn't even really said anything at all.

And that hurt more than anything else ever could.

And when he made his way through the doors that led outside, there was no Riku following him out. There was no Riku grabbing his wrist and making him explain himself in that elegant yet brash way of his. There was no Riku telling him to stop. There was no Riku wiping away his tears like he did when they were nothing but kids.

And…there was no Riku holding his hand to make the nightmares go away.

**In The Pool**

"_Hey, Sora…you okay?"_

"_Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."_

"_How come you and Riku aren't talking? Did you two have a fight or something? No, wait. That wouldn't make sense. Your fights always last less than a day or two; you always end up crawling back to him and begging for forgiveness, you know?"_

"_Nothing happened, Rox. Just don't worry about it."_

"_You sure you're okay…?"_

"_Yeah. I'm sure."_

**In The Pool**

"Hey."

His back stiffened expertly as he straightened, dropping the book he'd been holding to the library's unforgiving floor. Riku Ishida was behind him. The two hadn't said a word to one another for over three weeks. Not one little word since that day by the pool where Sora had screwed everything up and Riku hadn't bothered to fix it.

"Do you need something?" The brunette asked, turning around to face his best—former?—friend. His sounded cold, even to himself, but he couldn't help it. He was _hurting_, though he had to admit that it was his own doing. It was his own stupidity that succumbed him to his fate. He admitted it, but…that didn't make it any better.

Riku sighed, running his hand through his silvery hair as if to gather his thoughts; he didn't look well. His eyes were overshadowed by dark crescents and his hair had lost its usual shine. The older hadn't been doing very well at swim meets either. It was like he was slowly deteriorating in front of everyone. "Could you just come with me?"

"Why should I?"

"Please, Sor?" Riku asked weakly, tightening his hold on the bag dangling off his shoulder. Numbly, Sora nodded, grabbing his own bag and following after the other once he began to walk. He didn't know where they were going, and he didn't really care to ask. Riku hurt him, yes. He was the reason he went to bed every night crying because he'd screwed _everything _up. Even Demyx, the most oblivious of all their friends, had noticed that there had been something off about him these last few weeks. But, even so, if the way the other had held himself lately was any indication, he'd hurt Riku too. And he was the cause of both of their pains because he had to go and nearly kill himself and then tell Riku everything. He was the idiot that caused this, not Riku. So if Riku really wanted him to follow him, Sora would humor him.

After all, it was the least he could do.

He barely even realized when Riku stopped them both, standing in front of the school's pool, the place where this had all started. Or, at least, he would have barely noticed if not for running into the person he was following. Riku either didn't notice or he didn't care. He didn't say anything at all as Sora backed away, holding his bag close as he scanned the pool. They were the only ones there and the pool looked just as calm as ever.

But Sora knew what that water could do to a person.

"Strip."

"_Excuse me?_" Sora mumbled incredulously, one eyebrow raised at the near command.

Riku turned towards him, cerulean blue eyes watching him like he was exhausted beyond comprehension. And he was. "Come on, Sor, please? Just do this for me." Shaking his head, Sora complied—because he really couldn't say no to that— sliding his shirt over his head and pushing his jeans down to the floor after toeing off his shoes and socks. Before long, he was standing there in nothing but his underwear, watching Riku warily as he did the same. Did Riku really think that he was going to get him into the water? After what happened last time? No. He would not under any circumstances be willingly getting into that water.

And with that thought, Riku grabbed his upper arm and pushed him into the deep end, far enough away from the edge that he wouldn't hit his head or anything else. Sora's entire body stiffened as he went in, the water tunneling its way into his airways and suffocating him. And just as suddenly as he'd gone under, he came back up, held protectively to Riku's chest as he kept them both up, allowing Sora to sputter and cough as his fingernails dug painfully into the back of his neck.

"What the hell?" He managed after a while, breathing deeply and trying not to panic. "Get me out of here, Riku! Get me out!" And he knew he was crying against his crush's neck, because he thought he was going to die again. He thought that Riku was just going to let him drown.

And that scared him more than anything in the world.

"No." Riku said quietly, grabbing ahold of the other a little tighter around his waist. "I won't take you back until you listen to me." Sora just shook his head pathetically. He wanted out of the water. He _needed _to get out. He couldn't _breathe_.

"Please, please take me back, Riku." He begged, shutting his eyes so tightly that he actually saw stars behind his closed lids. "Please just take me back." Against him, he felt Riku shake his head, making soothing little cooing noises in his ear in an attempt to calm him down.

"I can't do that, Sora. Not until you've heard what I have to say." He stated firmly, before continuing softly. "Trust me, okay? I'm not going to let you drown. You know that, right? I'd never let that happen."

Sora sniffled against his neck, keeping his eyes locked shut. "If…if I listen, you'll take me back, right? You won't just leave me out here?"

Riku shook his head, letting his matted brown spikes rub against his cheek. "No, no. Sor, I'd never just leave you out here. Didn't I just say that?"

"Maybe?" Against him, Sora could feel Riku smile, lifting him an inch or two out of the water by his hips.

"Three weeks ago you said that you loved me but you already knew that I couldn't love you back." In his arms, he could feel Sora's body go rigid, the occasional shiver sliding down his spine. "But…you don't understand. I love _everything _about you. I've been in love with you since we were kids."

"But you—"

"What? Date girls? Yeah…I thought that by dating other people maybe I could forget about you, but everything sort of backfired. You were all I could think of when I was with those girls. Your laugh. Your smile. The way you chew on things in your sleep—what? You didn't know about that?—and even the way come to every one of my swim meets, even though I know you can't stand watching them. Do you have any idea how scared I was when you were in that accident? What would have happened if they couldn't have gotten the rope free? What would have happened if the boat would have pulled you down with it?

"I came to see you every day in the hospital because I had to _know_. I had to know that you were really alive and the world wasn't just playing some cruel joke one me. And every day I'd walk in the door and you'd still be there, all curled up under those blankets, complaining about the hospital gown and the food and the IV and everything else. I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear someone whine in my entire life.

"And then I come here to find you half drowned in the pool. All I could think was 'what if'? What if I hadn't come back? What if you had really been all alone? What if you had drown? What was I going to do with you gone? That's why I got so angry at you. And I couldn't say anything back to you when you told me you loved me. Because, man, all I could think was 'what if I never got to hear him say that? What if I'd never heard those three little words from him?" Riku trailed off, resting his chin atop Sora's head. The younger of the two didn't know what to say. All this time he'd thought that he didn't have a chance. He'd thought that the other would hate him forever if he were to find out that he actually harbored those kinds of feelings for him. But he was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Riku?" The other 'hmmed' against him, the vibrations leaking through to his chest. "Will you take me back now?"

The other nodded, paddling back towards the shallow end and never once letting go of the other's hand, even once they were able to stand face to face. Riku looked uncertain, watching the other smile as he leaned against him and looked across the water, once again as placid as it always was.

And then they kissed, their lips touching one another in such a way that it wasn't awkward. They moved against each other as one, Sora holding onto Riku's shoulders while the silverette held his hips in place. With little coaxing on Riku's part, Sora opened his mouth and allowed the older's tongue to explore his canal, licking at the roof of his mouth and dancing against his own tongue. And Sora didn't know who initiated the movement, but soon enough he was lying against the pool's stairs, his head held high above the water as Riku pulled away, a trail of saliva connecting their lips, barely having the time to break and fall against Sora's chin before Riku was licking it away, covering the area in light sucks and a variety of butterfly kisses, moving farther and farther down so that he was at his collarbone.

Sora didn't say anything to the other's hands traveling downwards, grabbing at his nipples under the water and twisting and rubbing them until they were both raw and red. He could hear himself gasp as Riku's hands traveled lower and lower, circling around his naval before slipping under the waistband of his underwear, rustling his public hairs before reaching down lower to grasp his recently awakened arousal. The other just smiled at him. And it wasn't a lust-filled smile. If anything, it was reassuring enough to make him lift his hips and slide his underwear off himself. It's wasn't like he had anything to hide and Riku had seen him naked plenty of times now anyway, so there was no need for him to be embarrassed.

Above him, he could see Riku's eyes shine as he touched him, rubbing his finger's up and down his arousal, squeezing him around the head, causing him to moan and writhe beneath him. "Do you want to…?" Riku asked, his voice heavy as his hand stilled.

"Yeah." He breathed.

And they did. Riku gingerly slipped three fingers, one by one, into his entrance, searching his tightened canal and stretching him as he went. The other just moaned against him as Riku touched his most private place, the water making the transition that much easier. After a while, the fingers weren't enough for him and Riku happily obliged him, sliding out of his own underwear only to sheath himself within his best friend—boyfriend? Lover?—in such a way that made the brunette's back arch away from the stairs, their naked chests touching and molding together like they were meant to. They moved against each other as one, with Riku thrusting in an out and Sora rocking against him, and after a time, they came together, Sora's seed seeping and disappearing into the water while Riku's filled him to the brim, some leaking out as he pulled away and collapsed off to his side, his arm holding him across his hips.

"That was…I don't know. Fantastic?" Riku mumbled from off to his side. And suddenly, Sora just had to laugh, hugging his sides as the giggles took over him. One of Riku's silver eyebrows rose as he watched the brunette curl towards him, tears in his eyes. "What's the matter? What's wrong?" Riku sat up on his elbows and watched Sora as the brunette shook his head, a smile gracing his lips.

"It just occurred to me that this, all of this," he gestured to the two of them and their drifting underwear, "started and ended in the pool."

Riku rolled his eyes, kissing him on the forehead. "You're such a dork."

And Sora was happy, because maybe nothing was perfect. Maybe he was still scared of the water and maybe they still had some issues to work out, but none of that mattered right now.

For now, everything was just…okay. Perfectly okay.

And Sora wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

****

A/N: Ta-da!

Yeah, I know, I suck, the sex was so rushed it killed me, but I was tired of trying to fix it, yadda yadda yadda. Don't hate me~ *flails*

Anyway, back to this fic, I wanted to give Sora a little more depth than what he usually has, because in the game I think of him as something more than an idiot. I mean, he's not exactly the brightest bulb out there, but he's not exactly stupid either (just a little oblivious), so I wanted him to seem more that way in this. And, for some reason, I really wanted to go with the idea of him being scared of water due to some boating accident (you can think what you will about what actually happened since I tried to leave it open-ended, but in my head, Sora went on a trip with his family and their boat sunk. When it went under, Sora's ankle got caught in one of the ropes and pulled him under. Someone- probably his father or uncle- managed to get him free after a few minutes, but he still had to stay in the hospital for a few days as a precaution). I really thought it would be a bit...I don't know, different is what I think I was going for. It's so late now though that I can't even really think. Hmm~

Now, since I have officially blubbered myself to death, I hope you all enjoyed!

Reviews are absolutely lovely too, by the way! ^-^


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